Kathleen Folbigg was once known as Australia’s worst female serial killer, but science is clearing her name. In 2003, she was convicted of killing her four children, even though there was no physical evidence. She was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison. Folbigg always said she was innocent.
A 2022 inquiry into the case proved that three of the children died of natural causes. Folbigg was released and pardoned. She is now working to officially overturn her conviction and get compensation from the state.
Folbigg shared her four children, Caleb, Patrick, Sarah, and Laura, with husband Craig Folbigg. The children all died between 1989 and 1999 at ages ranging from 19 days to 18 months. Tom Bathurst, the inquiry commissioner assigned to the case, found that Patrick’s cause of death could have been because of an underlying neurogenic disorder. He died at 8 months old. The girls Sarah and Laura both possibly had the genetic mutation called CALM2-G114R, which could explain their deaths. Sarah's autopsy found an inflamed heart, which also would have contributed.
Caleb’s death was not as easily explained but “in his case the reasonable possibility that he died of unknown natural causes has not been excluded,” Bathurst explained. A big part of the prosecution's case against Folbigg was the other children’s alleged murders. If that was not true, it also meant Caleb’s death was most likely natural as well. Bathurst found Folbigg to be “a caring mother for her children.”
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These new findings make one question how Folbigg got wrongly convicted in the first place. The prosecution's case relied heavily on how rare it was for four babies to die in the care of one mother. Folbigg was their primary caregiver and found all four of her children's bodies. There was no physical evidence of foul play.
The prosecution also utilized Folbigg’s husband Craig. Their marriage ended and he also began to question her role in their children’s deaths. He handed over diaries, which were used as evidence in court as an admission of guilt.
Folbigg’s past was also used against her. Her father had killed her mother when she was 18 months old. Much of her childhood was spent in the foster care system.
Upon her release from prison in June 2023, New South Wales Attorney General Michael Daley commented on the unthinkable damage done to Folbigg’s reputation. “This has been a terrible ordeal for everyone concerned and I hope that our actions today can put some closure on this 20-year-old matter,” he stated. “We’ve got four little bubbas who are dead. We’ve got a husband and wife who lost each other. A woman who spent 20 years in jail, and a family that never had a chance. You’d not be human if you didn’t feel something.”
